


Everything Changes

by prophet_of_troy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Hermione Granger & Lily Evans friendship, James Potter is a Good Friend, Late Night Conversations, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Pureblood Hermione Granger, Sneaking Out, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27803242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prophet_of_troy/pseuds/prophet_of_troy
Summary: It's the night before her wedding and Hermione finds herself sneaking out of her best friend's parents house.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Hermione Granger
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54
Collections: Pen15 is Mightier Prompt Exchange 2020





	Everything Changes

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [Pen15isMightierPromptExchange2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Pen15isMightierPromptExchange2020) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> I'd love to read a Hermione/Marauder story where she actually is from their time! Prefer F/M pairing w/anyone besides Pettigrew. 
> 
> If you'd like to involve time travel instead, I enjoy those stories as well :)

It was late. She didn’t know quite  _ how _ late, only that everyone else was asleep and had been for some time, and she was still tossing and turning. It was too quiet. The only sounds were her friend snoring, her own breathing, and the ticking of a clock somewhere in the house. She didn’t like it and vowed quietly in the confines of her own mind that her own home would never be so still. 

Something in her stomach twisted and her chest ached in anxiety. 

Her own home. With a husband and children- she knew he wanted them- and all that all of it implied. The notion excited and terrified her and all at once she wanted to run away from it. She wasn’t ready for such things. She was going to hate it and wish she’d never done it….

Lily turned beside her and Hermione felt the wild thrumming in her chest calm a bit. She closed her eyes and tried to sooth her breathing. There was nothing good in working herself into a state now. Everyone was sleeping. 

Not everyone. 

The room lit soft in shades of silvery blue and a translucent dog bounded through the wall. Hermione perked up and looked over at Lily, carefully detangling herself from the blankets. 

The floor was cold, but she was too grateful at the late night intrusion to pay it any more mind than passing notice; padding over to the window on her tiptoes. The Patronus wagged his tail gleefully and seemed to try butting her with his head, only to glide through her and out of the wall again to a figure on the lawn. Hermione watched her friend’s back steadily as she slid the window open.

Lily didn’t stir. 

“What are you doing?” She called out in a whispered exclamation. She tried to sound upset, exasperated, but even she could hear the relief in her voice- and she could hear the well meaning grin in his. 

“I’ve come to rescue the fair damsel.”

“Well I hope you find one then!” She laughed to herself, waiting for his retort. 

But he sounded so sincere calling out, “I had to see you. I couldn’t sleep without coming here.”

It was a warm night, in a chilly sort of summer way, with the waxing moon’s light on his face. She’d rarely seen him so serious. Everything seemed so much better than just moments ago without him, only having to hear his voice to be cured of her worries. 

“Won’t you come out?” He asked. 

Lily still hadn’t moved, but if years at Hogwarts made one thing clear to Hermione, it was that Lily Evans woke for no one. Her parents, however, she wasn’t sure were so unreasonable. Lily’s dad seemed the solemn sort, so she was positive he wouldn’t appreciate being woken up by her sneaking past his room to the front door. 

She studied the window and, as if hearing her thoughts, Sirius muttered a familiar spell. Hermione sighed in feigned annoyance at the ladder that formed, Transfiguration prodigy he was, and swung a leg over the window pane. 

“We’re aren’t kids anymore,” she told him firmly. 

She heard him laugh in response as she climbed down, feeling a bit silly. She was a grown witch, sneaking out of her best friend’s parents house. It was sort of fun though, grabbing Sirius’ hand and letting him pull her down the street. 

“Lily is going to wake up and go mental,” she told him, grinning, as they came to a park down the block. It was small and overgrown as though no one had come here or paid any attention to it in sometime.

“You and I both know she won’t wake up until you two are late in the morning and you’re finally able to drag her out of bed.”

Sirius sat on the rusty muggle swing and gestured for her to take the one beside him. They creaked and squealed, Hermione allowing herself to sway. It was lovely and quiet, with the wind rustling the foliage so that it wasn’t  _ too  _ quiet the way the Evans’ home was.

“My brother will go mad then,” she said. “You know he tosses and turns. He’ll see that you’re gone and-”

“And be glad I stopped keeping everyone awake worrying so much about tomorrow.”

Hermione smiled to herself. “You’re worried too?”

“We’re getting married,” he scoffed. “I’d be stupid not to worry. Well, no, worry implies I think I’m making a mistake.”

“You don’t though, right?”

Sirius pulled her swing to his and held her there to look her in the eyes. “I think it’ll be the best decision I ever make.”

She sniffed quietly, laying a hand on his face and leaning to kiss him. 

“ _ You’re _ not thinking about backing out, are you?” He asked, sounding less sure of himself. 

“Of course not!” She said quickly. “I just-”

She stopped herself and pulled back with a sigh. Her chest constricted and her stomach ached. The shadows of war seemed to darken around her when she closed her eyes, as though reaching for her. The McKinnons….. She could imagine Marlene’s face, determined when they came for her. Most of the people who’d died until now she didn’t know, maybe she heard their names in passing, but this wound was still fresh and pained her to remember. Pained her to see Remus and the smile not quite reaching as far as it had when Marley was there to bring it out. 

“Hermione?”

She opened her eyes. Sirius watched her with concern. 

“I’m scared,” she whispered shakily. “I’m scared that something will happen, to you or to James- or to anyone! What if we marry tomorrow and I become a widow next week? What if we wake up years from now, after the war, and realize we only ever married because of it? What if- what if everything we love changes and we regret it?”

Sirius chuckled at that. “What if the sky falls down? What if Hagrid finally finds someone crazy enough to hand over a dragon?”

Hermione sniffed again, glaring at him. “Don’t patronize me, Sirius! I mean it.”

She stood up and began storming off, back toward Lily’s house. She heard his steps, ripping through the too tall grass, and he grabbed her arm to stop her. 

“Forgive me,” he pleaded softly. “I only laughed because it’s a relief to know I wasn’t the only one asking myself these things. Hermione, everything changes, love. Everything changes and nothing does. That’s the way life goes. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen next week, or a month from now. What I  _ can  _ tell you is that I will be there tomorrow, in my best clothes, waiting to share the rest of my life with you.”

He smiled and brushed her hair back. “I’ve been waiting years to marry you, Hermione.”

Sirius pulled her into a tight embrace and she breathed him in, that familiar scent of leather and vanilla and tobacco- which she hated. But she couldn’t make herself mind his smoking right now. His arms felt like home.

“Maybe you’re asking the wrong questions,” he said. She hummed, nuzzling and hiding her face in his chest, and he continued; his voice muffled in her hair. “What if we have an amazing life together? What if we’re so happy we don’t know what to do with ourselves?”  
They stayed that way for a long time, her feet protesting and her eyes drooping. When they finally said their goodbyes and pulled away, Hermione felt like floating after such a weight had been taken away. Maybe she _was_ floating.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told her, backing away to leave. It came out as more of a question, a clarification. 

“I’ll be the one in white,” she called, unable to take the tired, loopy, lovesick grin off of her face. 

She walked back to Lily’s, the very earliest of lightening of morning in the sky.  _ Everything changes _ , she heard him echo in her mind as she climbed his transfigured ladder. Her silvery white wedding robes hung in the corner, bright even in the dark room. 


End file.
